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Robinson’s flag football team took a 13-6 win over Plant on Wednesday, April 4 to uphold their 14-year tradition of beating their South Tampa rival.

Although the team’s offensive line struggled to move past Plant’s defense, outside receiver Alexis Smith (’19) caught a 30-yard touchdown pass that gave the Knights a 6-0 lead at the half. Although Smith was the player that turned the game around for the Knights, she stayed humble and turned the spotlight back to the team.

“When all of our coaches are yelling at us, the last thing we want to do is keep putting our teammates down, so I really try to lift up my teammates when they make a mistake or even when they’re doing good,” Smith said.

Plant eventually tied the game 6-6 in the third quarter. But the Knights still managed to defend their winning streak when inside receiver Emily Kemp (’20) caught the winning touchdown pass in the final minute of the fourth quarter. The Knights secured their 15th consecutive win against Plant.

Before the game, head coach Joshua Saunders gave a pep-talk to both the JV and varsity teams. The speech was focused on the idea that the team’s goal was to work together. Despite the close score, the team managed to maintain a calm mind-set as they adapted to the game.

Former quarterback and captain Olivia Salzman (’17) was in town for the game, and she went to support her old team in one of the biggest games of the year.

“One piece of advice I think I’d give is to, obviously in games like this, never give up,” Salzman said. “I think with this team, there’s a lot of chemistry between the girls and [they] all work together really well, so I think that’s the biggest thing to keep in mind when games are close like this.”

“This team had to learn how to win, they had to learn that it was their turn to take over what Robinson flag means,” Saunders said. “This game was so important. They had to be in a battle, they had to be in a fight, and they had to win.”

The Knights will travel to Tallahassee this weekend, April 6 and 7, to play in the Capitol Classic Tournament.